Anita Perry, the 59-year-old wife of Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, has been very actively campaigning for him on her own all fall.

Now, she's taken on a new assignment. Mrs. Perry has launched an online drive to recruit hundreds of volunteers for what she calls the Perry Strike Force.

This would consist of Perry fans who would travel to Iowa and work across the state Jan. 2-4, getting out Perry caucus-goers to the hundreds of meeting sites on the evening of Jan. 3. (Don't worry, the BCS Championship Game is not until Jan. 9 this time.)

"With over 1,700 caucuses convening that evening," Mrs. Perry says in an e-mail blast to thousands of Perry supporters, "we need volunteers from across this great nation to assist Rick and I in reaching as many Iowans as possible. If you are interested in our Strike Force effort and would be willing to go to Iowa January 2-4, 2012, please contact our team by e-mailing strikeforce@rickperry.org "

While every campaign relies on grassroots get-out-the-vote efforts on election day, Iowa's caucuses present an unusually demanding challenge for candidates. They are no all-day drop-by-and-vote-before-work-during-lunch-or-after-work affairs.

They all start across the state simultaneously at 7 p.m. Central time on a typically cold night and can run until close to midnight as neighbors try to persuade neighbors to vote for their candidate in the successive elimination ballots.

"Her father is an old country doctor," Perry said, "and she sees the demise of really quality healthcare and being able to take care of people like they need to be taken care of in this country and the innovations that have occurred in medicine."

Anita Thigpen Perry, 59, has a bachelor's degree in nursing from West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M University) and a master's degree in nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Texas Tech University's School of Nursing was renamed in her honor in 2008.

She worked as a nurse for 17 years in numerous settings, including surgery, pediatrics, intensive care administration and teaching. That experience adds credibility to her criticism of the federal healthcare law, a welcome asset for Perry as he struggles to explain why more than a quarter of Texans don't have health insurance - the highest rate in the nation.

Anita Perrys childhood was spent making house calls with her dad, Texas Tech University Chancellor Kent Hance told The Hill. Healthcare is a big issue to her and her dad being a doctor  a country doctor  she certainly has a lot of opinions that were formed even at an early age over healthcare. [end excerpt]

Republican Caucus Power Rankings for 11/21/11 ...............[Romney] .."Even if these efforts only help to lock in that low 20% support, it could be enough for a win on caucus night if the rest of the field remains splintered.

Not sure waht to make of Rick Perry’s race so far. Taking an analogy of a long distance cross country race:
1. Got pushed into signing up by supporters
2. He listened to all his fans, put on his running shoes and took off in a full sprint with no race plan or real knowledge of the course
3. Quickly caught the methodical and steady even boring pace of Mitt, and saw no one ahead so thought...this is working great and continued at that pace
4. Rough road and bumps caused unanticipated stumbles and falters...quickly dropping back through the pack as he struggled to figure out how to maintain a consistent stride and trying to catch a second wind from the initial sprint.
5. Now he can see the pack in front and is starting to put together a plan it would appear...since he found out quickly he is not a natural born racer and failed to train and plan up front. Similar to the fate of a number of candidates this time around

We shall see how an advance team will work relaying back critical information to him...will he able to catch that second wind, hit an even stride and persevere through the tumultuous ground of the primaries and caucuses ahead?

11
posted on 11/21/2011 10:31:20 AM PST
by An American!
(Proud To Be An American!)

So did you get stuck with guard duty today and it’s your responsibility to call all the hyenas to come over and do what
hyenas do best? Heckle and cackle and show why they are the most abhored animals in the jungle.

Here’s another theory..Iowans will still be celebrating Iowa State’s BIG win over OSU...and happy for the Big 12, er..8..so will they vote for an Aggie...whose alma mater is deserting the conference for the SEC?

Sure it was! I’ve read their humor before. And you can call me ‘Perrywinkle’ all you want. I’m old enough to realize
what happens in the pre primaries.
I have watched for years and every time one of these “humor” posters spout their venom, then other bottom dwellers rise and add to it.
Every election irreparable damage is done to candidates until the ‘chosen one’ is the only one left standing ie: George H.W.Bush, G.W Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney.
Do you see the pattern here? Mitt Romney seems to be the ‘chosen one’ now because he ran last time and was unsuccessful so it’s ‘his turn.”
As long as every candidate on our side is ripped and torn apart until they are no longer viable this will keep happening. I’m just sick and tired of not having a choice when
it comes to the primaries not to mention the election. I’m not neccessarily a Perry supporter but I would like to read about all the candidates without the same individuals making the same mind numbed statements on every post.
Perry has ideas I like, Cain has some ideas I like, love his personality, Newt is brilliant but he doesn’t have a very good track record on sticking to the issues and seeing completion before he goes sailing off in another direction.
But because of all the crap on these posts that are not constructive critisms a lot of people I know are not even checking them out any more.
So you can report back to your buds that y’all are at least partially successful.

Looky, dude, we’ve more than well vetted, debunked and dismissed these guys a LONG time ago (Slick Willard, La Raza Rick, Dr. Demento & Naughty Newtie). It’s not our fault you’re late to the game. You want intensive posts going over their records, go look up posts from months (or years) ago. Right now, all we have is crapola/spam from CW pimping a candidate behind Ron Paul in the polls. That is the joke.

32
posted on 11/21/2011 11:09:50 AM PST
by fieldmarshaldj
(Rick Perry has more red flags than a May Day Parade)

You amuse me. So many posts to Perry threads. So necessary for you to summon your pile-on posse. Why all the time and trouble? Certainly you have something better to do with your time if Perry has no chance. Hmmmmmmm?

I’ll not trade insults with you. My husband has asked me not to use my favorite insults on Freerepublic.
I just am sick and tired of reading what some people call ‘vetting’. And I’ve read all the posts that were previously written.
And I also wonder if you hate Rick Perry so much why do you sit and wait for a post on him so you can call out all your buddies to come and comment? Just a simple question.

Agreed, but he was adamant he was not running this one until he was convinced otherwise by supporters.

He is trailing the leaders, has a good support team with deep pockets, and using self-deprecating humor still has a chance to catch up. Recovering and not out...similar to Cain. Newt is the one that surprised me...his elder statesman style approach allowed him to sneak up and gain some decisive ground. Now the media will pounce...which way will Newt bounce?

I sure would have love to have seen how Sarah would have caused the race to mix up...I am certain she would have had similar issues as these other candidates with mistakes and miscues and outside attacks. All of which are strategically highlighted and over emphasized by the media.

40
posted on 11/21/2011 11:38:29 AM PST
by An American!
(Proud To Be An American!)

Look, I would love to see a strong Perry candidacy, but I don’t believe in making it easy for our guys. To put it bluntly, we all want a fighter for conservatism. The gaffes in the debates and the generally lackluster tone of the Perry campaign are telling. Is it possible that Perry’s heart is not in the race? If not, we have other candidates.

I’m not trading insults with you, I’m just telling it like it is. Politics ain’t beanbag. The future of our country is at stake. You may not like how we vet candidates here, but that’s not my problem. We can either be brutally honest or we can remain in denial. Perry is nothing but a nuisance candidate in the single digits and if he wants to prove his Conservative bonafides, he should get out and endorse the man who can beat Zero, and that’s Herman Cain.

45
posted on 11/21/2011 11:43:52 AM PST
by fieldmarshaldj
(Rick Perry has more red flags than a May Day Parade)

Well, maybe I’m just not familiar with his campaign style. It’s possible that the next six months will be telling and this current cycle will be a bad memory. It’s just frustrating to see a good candidate not gain the traction in the polls that he deserves.

It was fun. It was the first game I made it to in person; so glad I picked this one! They need to have a decent showing the next 2 games however. Both will be tough games. Not happy to be playing OU after they had a tough loss. They could make us look foolish as good as they are.

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